Residents of Colaba Market, which is dotted with illegal and kaccha houses, used to take pride in the five-storey Nariman House, the only cement-concrete structure in the area.

But not any more.

Having taken the brunt of two-and-a-half days of firing from terrorists and commandos and with more than 30 grenades lobbed there, the building may still seems steady, when seen from outside. But it is evident that the building is now little more than a cracked shell from within.

When The Indian Express entered the house less than 24 hours after the NSG completed the operation, the sight sent a chill down the spine. The handgrenades and bullets had done their job. The building resembled a structure from global conflict zones. There were small craters on the floor and walls, bullet marks across the building and slabs of concrete strewn everywhere.

On entering the first floor, the stench of decomposed bodies on the third floor became unbearable.

Policemen run up and down the floor collecting evidence, including every shell fired. Every floor was bombed, causing the walls along the stairways to collapse. Shards of glass from the windowpanes are scattered on the floor.

The entrance to the building is itself tilted and has a deep crack. The ground floor bears a portrait of a spiritual leader. The elevator is mangled, its space on the ground floor an odd hole. The steps go up minus any walls, an eerie climb upstairs. Even the granite steps have huge cracks.

... contd.